This Tuesday, November 7, the freshmen delivered speeches in hopes of claiming the roles of President, Secretary/Treasurer, Spirit Representative, and Honor Council Representative. The student with the skateboard,
Mark Harmon '21
, decked it out to show that he's the best choice for Spirit Representative!
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Family Directory Changes
Shalev, Maxwell ‘21, Zweben, LIndsay ‘18, Zweben, Skye ‘21
Monte Zweben
Liz Shalev Zweben
120 Mountain View Avenue
San Rafael, CA 94901
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Scheduling an Event at Branson?
We are streamlining how we arrange events at Branson. Rather than emailing various individuals, you can now just complete an Event Request Form (ERF), which will capture all your event and meeting requests and details in one place. We are asking everyone who wants to hold an event at Branson to complete this form. If there are questions or conflicts, the right person will be in touch with you. We have been testing it out, and it's already helped us a great deal in making sure events run smoothly and anticipating any competing needs. The form is below and on the school's website under Parent to Parent.
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Kudos and Thanks for High School Musical
by Eric Oldmixon
A huge thank you to the whole community for making
High School Musical
such a success. In addition to the great work of our students, I want to also acknowledge the dedication of our Director
Maura Vaughn
, Music Director
Rachel Kim
, and Technical Director
DiAnn Montemayor
! I also managed to overlook Costume Designer Judy
Maas
Rheingold
in the program. Thank you, Judy, for all your work creating the costumes!
The directors, cast, and crew want to give a special thank you to all the parents and administrators for their support. We could not have done this without everyone’s help. We were indeed “all in it together.”
We look forward to seeing you at the Winter Arts Festival at 5 pm December 15 followed by the Winter Concert at 2 pm on December 17 at Angelico Hall, Dominican University of California.
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The Bulls Behind the Bulls Honored
Behind all our great Bulls teams are great families, supporting them and the school in ways large, small, and in between. This week we unveiled a stainless steel plaque that acknowledges the many who, since 1965, have contributed to making our field and gym better. We hope you’ll take a moment to see the new sign in their honor. A special thanks to Tom Ryan, for his enduring legacy as a coach, mentor, colleague, and all-around incredible guy!
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NOVEMBER 11
-
NCS Volleyball Championship, Branson vs. Lick-Wilmerding
College of Marin, 7 pm
NOVEMBER 14 - College Bus Trip Information Session
(for Sophomore and Junior Families)
Old Dining Hall, 6:30 pm
The dates listed above represent only the next two weeks.
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Attention Sophomore and Junior Families:
College Counseling Bus Trip 3.0!
The College Counseling Office is delighted to partner once again with College Authority, a college tour company, to offer a spring break college tour program.
What is the purpose of the trip?
The purpose of this trip is to see colleges - to learn about them, yourself, and how they may or may not be a match.
Who can go on this trip and when will it be happening?
The trip is open to junior and sophomore students and will run during spring break, from April 8 to April 13. Limited financial aid is available for this trip.
Why might I consider this trip over a more traditional way to see schools?
This trip offers students a fun, educational, and affordable alternative to the traditional family trip. Students are able to see a wide variety of schools in a short period of time and often find it enjoyable to travel with their friends.
Where will we be going this year?
The details of the itinerary are still being finalized, but the preliminary list of schools includes: Georgetown, George Washington, Johns Hopkins, University of Pennsylvania, Lehigh, NYU, Vassar, Trinity, Wesleyan, Brown, and Boston College.
For more details please attend the Information Session on
November 14 at 6:30 pm
in the Old Dining Hall.
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Compost Anyone?
by Peter Zdrojewski
Hands draped with hummus and soiled veggie-kebab napkins,
Anna Dworetzky
looked up from her squat position and smiled. Strange, you might say, especially given that she was wrist-deep in the trash and food scrap remains of another delicious lunch at The Commons. What caused the smile is the fact that concrete steps are being taken to start an official compost program at Branson, a program that will help to avoid harmful levels of methane emissions from landfills.
A few weeks ago, members of the Environmental Action Committee (EAC) met with representatives from Marin Sanitary to complete a waste audit. The audit acts as a baseline, detailing where we are as a community, while also highlighting clear steps we could take for more sustainable waste management. After the audit, the numbers told a clear story. The majority (88.6%) of the material collected was compostable, with food scraps accounting for most of the weight and volume. This confirmed what we already knew, and further emphasized the need to implement a composting program. Keen to get the ball rolling on this initiative, the EAC is even more excited to involve the rest of the community with this important step in reducing the environmental impact of our campus. Stay tuned for more announcements from the EAC on the future of the composting program. Huge thanks go out to
Dave Schneider
and
Marcus Trigg
for helping with the audit and supporting these efforts!
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Non Perishable Food Collection for the Local Community
by Rich Bollini '18
In the month of November, we are collecting non-perishable food for the local St. Vincent de Paul pantry. The food will be distributed as needed to the local community.
How can you help?
Donations of non-perishable food are much needed and appreciated. Food items that are needed are canned fruits, vegetables, soups, baking mixes, pastas, rice, condiments, packaged meals and sauces. Donation bins are located around campus; Commons, Library and Richardson Hall. Please contact
Rich Bollini ’18
if you have any questions. Thank you for your support!
About St. Vincent de Paul Society
: The local conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society is comprised of a small group of volunteers who are dedicated to helping those in need in the local community. The volunteers provide aid in the form of food, clothing, help with rent and utilities as well as help with other basic needs. This local conference helps people in Marin County, primarily families and seniors, who need a boost to get back on their feet. High costs for rent, food and utilities in our community make it difficult for a single parent or senior to get by.
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Volunteers Needed for REST Dinners
The Rotating Emergency Shelter Team (REST) is a network of volunteers who provide meals, companionship, and shelter for Marin County's homeless. Volunteers provide part of the meal and need to be at Westminster from 5 to 8:15 pm to prepare, serve, and share dinner. The dinners are mostly student-run, but we do need adult volunteers. Please contact
Evelyn Sayers
to sign up.
Future REST Dinners:
Please note: The San Anselmo dinners are at First Presbyterian San Anselmo.
3/4 (Tiburon)
4/7 (San Anselmo)
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Intermediate Arts Students' Art on Display
We hope you take a moment to enjoy the new art in The Commons, featuring the work of Intermediate Drawing/Painting and Intermediate Photography students.
The Drawing/Painting works are the result of the project "Learning to See.” Students worked on skills of observation and representation based upon a toy still life. Along the way, they experimented with a variety of expressive drawing techniques. The great stylistic variety among the images is a result of their observations -- of
learning to see
not only the toys and dolls as objects themselves but their own expressive reactions and/or conceptual insights represented by the objects.
Intermediate photography students have spent the past two months in the darkroom learning the intricacies of shooting with the manual camera and printing photographs by hand in the darkroom. The images in this series explore a variety of moods from serene to playful to solitary. Formally, students focused on illustrating or intentionally breaking the rule of thirds. Technically, they focused on creating images with a shallow depth of field that put the subject of focus in the foreground with the background blurring softly.
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Parent AV Volunteers Needed!
Is audiovisual your thing? Or just your interest? We are looking for three volunteers to make up a new committee to be in charge of the AV for parent ed events, the PA meetings, and anything else that may come up! Training is available from Academic Technology Director
Justin Culley
. A quick 10-20 minute training on the systems the school uses is all that’s needed to get you up to speed! Please email
Jaime Dillon
if you are interested.
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Upcoming Parent Ed Event
"Teens and Screens: Making the Brain Connections" at the University of SF, Tuesday, December 5, 2017 at 6 pm to 8 pm
for parents, teachers and teens. Register
HERE
.
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Recap and Materials from Don Carney's Talk on Teens and Binge Drinking
Don Carney, Director of the Marin County Youth Court and an expert with over 40 years of experience working with kids, spoke at Branson on November 7th. Don developed the Alcohol and Drug Safety Skills Harm Reduction Training program. His presentation included extensive research and statistics on the alarming rates of binge drinking and drug use in our country and in Marin County in particular, where he works.
Some interesting facts he presented include:
- SAD FACT: every 2 weeks, Marin loses a citizen to an opioid overdose.
- NOT ALL OF MARIN IS THE SAME: the life expectancy of a resident of Belvedere is 15 years longer than the life expectancy of a resident of Marin City (less than 5 miles away).
- NOT JUST THE KIDS: binge drinking is not a "teen" problem or a "youth" problem but a community problem. Marin has among the highest rates of adult binge drinkers in the country.
- HEROIN IS BACK: the current cost of an Oxycontin habit is about $160 per day. The current cost of a heroin habit is $20 per day.
- ALCOHOL THEFT: A local Safeway supermarket loses about $50,000 worth of alcohol to theft in a year. The alcohol distributors reimburse the stores for this loss, so they have no incentive to move it away from the front of the stores, where impulse purchases are more likely and theft is much easier.
- AGE OF FIRST USE MATTERS: Of surveyed alcoholics who started drinking before age 14, 45% became alcoholic. Of those who waited until age 18, 14% became alcoholic.
- MARKETING TO KIDS- LABELS MATTER: Have you heard of "Alco-Pop?' It is a fruit soda-like beverage that costs about $1.50 and can contain various kinds of alcohol including vodka, malt, and grain alcohol. It is being heavily marketed to girls. How about "Pot-Tarts," marijuana edibles that look like and are packaged like Pop Tarts and are marketed to kids?
- TRY IT AT HOME MYTH: You cannot "teach" your kids to drink. Statistically, they will fare better if they go off to college having NEVER gotten drunk than if you "help" them by letting them get drunk under your roof.
You can also download his
PowerPoint here.
Don sent it to us along with the link (below)
to the YMCA Youth Court documentary. "Finding Justice: Ending the School to Prison Pipeline." He shared these with us along with the message, "It truly does take a village to keep our children safe during their risk taking years."
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Recap of "Wake Up: The Truth about Common Sleep Myths"
We were pleased to be able to benefit form the expertise of Dr. Kevin Weeks, Jr. MD by attending his talk "
Wake Up: The Truth about Common Sleep Myths." Dr. Weeks gave a great, incredibly informative and thought-provoking talk at on the power of sleep. As a cardiovascular specialist, Dr. Weeks noted the strong correlation between sleep deprivation and cardiac health issues in his practice. For many patients, the road to recovery was related to sleep education. He described the brain "reset" that occurs during sleep. With this restoration comes a shift in cognition and mood; our brain's natural state is calm and positive. The brain thrives on close to 9 hours of sleep (and up to 12 hours in late childhood and for early adolescents) with a slow wake-up. Traditional alarm clock noises may lead to the body producing excess morning cortisol and thus more stress throughout the day. Dr. Weeks suggests waking to light filling the room (Apple makes such a product). Light exposure is also pivotal to a good night's sleep (it regulates the hormone melatonin). He recommends 1-2 hours of natural light, but sun lamps are a good alternative.
Other great tips:
- study right before bedtime to help with memory consolidation during sleep
- consult doctor before using sleep medication, most are not effective
- the teenage brain is still asleep at 7:30 am; it is dangerous time to drive
- recommended school start time 8:45 to 9 am
- sleep deprivation may decrease growth hormone in children and adolescence (if a pattern, may not rebound)
- limit technology and screens an hour before bedtime
- do not sleep in close proximity to one’s phone
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BransonTalks - A Great Success!
Alums gathered on a perfect autumn evening at Butchershop Creative in San Francisco to network and learn from fellow alums at the November 7 BransonTalks. Speakers were
Robyn Goldman Fisher ‘97
, founder of
Smitten Ice Cream
,
Dan Pardi ‘93
, founder of
HumanOs
and
Jeremy Wallenberg ‘03,
political consultant who worked on Obama’s campaign and now for the office of Mayor Lee. Stay tuned for more events like this in 2018!
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Upcoming Events
November 30
6 to 8 pm
Parents of alumni who graduated from the Classes of 2007-2017 are invited to a cocktail reception with Chris Mazzola on the Branson campus. Please contact
alumni@branson.org
if you would like to attend!
December 5
6 to 8 pm
Our annual Alumni Holiday Party will be held at Butchershop Creative in San Francisco.
RSVP
here!
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Respect!
Thank you in advance for your participation in the Annual Fund. We look forward to continuing this dialogue with you.
From your Ambassadors of
Show Me the Branson: Love, Respect, Community and Financial Support.
Tom Fischer & Cyndi Devereaux
Parents of Haydn Fischer, Class of 2018
Email your Gift/Pledge to Annual Fund Director,
Hayley Burner:
hayley_burner@branson.org.
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Prendergast, Dailey Excel At MCAL
Both the boys and girls capitalized on ideal conditions—light mist, low temps—and turned in phenomenal performances at the MCAL championship meet on Wednesday, November 8. Stirring individual performances up and down the ladder propelled Branson to sixth (girls) and seventh (boys) place finishes in the meet.
Daniel Prendergast’s
14th place finish (119 in the race) garnered him Second-Team All-League status, the first Branson boy to be so recognized since
Steven
Iglehart
in ’08. Daniel trains sparingly, but he has turned in some amazing performances lately. His shocking 17:12 (5:32 per mile) on the slow course actually puts him in the hunt for a state berth out of NCS. What’s possible for Dan is also possible for
Alex Le
, Branson’s second finisher, who had a smart beginning, a rough middle (asthma) and a strong end. Graduating seniors
Everett Magnuson, James Maxwell, Max
Cohen,
and
Finn Zink
all went out in style: Ev ran his best race of the season, knocking 2:35 off his time on this same course just two weeks ago; James, who is coming on like absolute gangbusters, notched a 46-second PR on the course; this was the best of the 25 races he’s run for Branson. Max also ran basically his best race ever, shaving 27 seconds off his previous best on the course; and Finn in his own words, “left it all out there,” covering the ground 28 seconds faster than ever before.
Sam Modlin
ran a career race, dropping 2:17 off his previous best, and running sub-seven pace for the first time ever (6:48).
Tucker Sennett
ran his best race of 2017, dropping 1:16 in just two short weeks.
Colin Yoon, Brendon Milan-Howells
and
Sam Yolles
also PR’d.
This was senior
Grace Dailey’s
fourth MCAL championship race. She finished third as a freshman, second as a sophomore, third as a junior and second again on Wednesday (107 in the race). That’s ten measly points total, over four years. Grace, Branson’s contessa of consistency and composure, will graduate as the school’s second lowest MCAL scorer ever--low is good, racers want to be low. Delivering like that year after year when the lights shine brightest is a remarkable achievement.
Callie Jones
was Grace’s partner in excellence. Both girls executed their race plans to perfection. Although IVC’s first mile includes a short, steep hill, they went out fast, in about 5:45, great preparation for state—and pulled away from a designated competitor, just as they hoped to. Callie crossed shortly after Grace, and finished third overall (she’s run the race three years now, and finished sixth, fourth and third…she will definitely contend for the title as a senior). Freshman
Caitlin Evers
ran a minute faster on the course than she did two weeks ago, and earned Second-Team All-League honors for her efforts.
Anna Weisel
ran a strong number four for Branson, her 23:06 two minutes faster than last year’s time. Senior
Nye Day
ran her best race on the course since 2014; like Anna she zipped through a good two minutes faster today than last year. Nye’s fellow senior captain,
Camille Pon
, was running the course for the sixth time; what better way to close out a career than with a fastest time ever?
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Celebrating win over Redwood.
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Lady Bulls Advance to NCS Finals For Ninth Consecutive Year!
After their narrow escape in the prior match (see below), the Bulls were primed to show their true prowess against the Del Norte Warriors last night. The team jumped off to a commanding 17-9 lead on great serving by senior setter
Amy Wentzel
and Lauren, who had a five-serve run. Amelia and Sophie lead the offense, and Eva used her height advantage to score almost at will to cruise to a 25-19 first set win.
The Bulls remained focused in the second set, playing flawlessly. Abby had a string of five serves, Amy provided well-placed dumps, and sophomore
Mallory Harrington-Fei
added multiple kills for an 18-3 beatdown and a 25-13 second set.
The third set began slowly, but the Lady Bulls were able to maintain focus and kept the score tied at 9-9. Mallory provided back-to-back kills, as well as a block with Eva, and Amy had her own block. Avery pounded an ace and a four-serve string, and on a kill by Kelsey, the team jumped to an 18-12 lead. The Warriors managed a rally, but it was not enough to stop the Bulls’ charge. A late set kill by Sophie stemmed the tide, and the Bulls won 25-21.
With the win, the Bulls advance to the NCS Division IV Finals this Saturday, November 11, 7 pm, at College of Marin, in search of their
ninth consecutive
NCS title. They have also earned a spot in the next round of playoffs, NorCal, which could ultimately bring them to the state championship.
Bulls Beat Back Braves in Five on Saturday
Last Saturday night, the Bulls hosted the Justin Siena Braves in the NCS quarterfinals. The match started off with the Bulls jumping to a slight lead on great kills by junior
Amelia Browne
and sophomores
Maya Roberts-Burbank
,
Sophie Swett
, and
Kelsey Polhemus
, along with lunging digs by sophomore
Abby Stover
. The Lady Bulls were able to maintain their edge throughout the set and won 25-21.
The second set began slowly, with the Bulls losing the first four points, but on the strong serving of Amelia, the Bulls caught up to the Braves and the teams were locked in a back-and-forth struggle to tie 17-17. The Braves went on a mini-run, but at 17-20, Amelia was able to stem the tide with a kill, and senior
Eva Davis
contributed with a block to tie once again 21-21. The Bulls kept the pressure on. Sophie add another kill, and sophomore
Avery Arcuri
ended the set with an ace, 25-22.
The third set continued to be a neck and neck affair, with the teams tied 20-20. Despite a kill by Sophie, the Bulls lost the third set on a string of defensive errors 21-25. The fourth set was a repeat of the third’s wrestling match, with ties occurring late in the set, but the Bulls just couldn’t put the scrappy Braves away and wound up short 24-26, forcing the fifth set.
Branson grit was in abundance during the fifth set, as the team regrouped and refocused. Junior libero
Lauren Winters
led the defense, with Abby providing some great digs. Amelia cannoned some amazing kills, as did Maya, and the team earned its largest lead of the match 10-5. Kelsey provided a late set kill, and Amelia finished off the match with a kill down the pipe for a fifth set 15-8 victory.
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Branson Girls Advance Over Salesian in NCS Play
The format in NCS tournament play is: four singles and three doubles. The Lady Bulls found themselves facing Salesian HS from Richmond, CA in the first round of the tourney. This was the first time anyone can remember Branson facing the Catholic college preparatory school of 475 students. All in all, it was a very pleasant afternoon at the San Rafael HS tennis courts.
The #1 doubles duo of
Abby Ivancevich & Emily Wells
was first off the courts with a 40-minute match of 6-0, 6-0.
Scarlett Bach & Olivia Rosenlund
playing #2 position won 6-1, 6-2, while the #3 team of
Clia
Ellwein & Caroline Ritter
quickly followed with a 6-3, 6-1 result.
Playing in the #4 singles position,
Ella Ratliff
cruised to a 6-0, 6-4 win and #3
Chelsea Wong
methodically stroked to a 6-1, 6-0 victory. #2
Emma Hirschkop
posted a 6-1, 6-0 win and then everyone settled down to admire
Alise Pedersen
cap off the match with a smooth and controlled 6-0, 6-1 triumph.
Branson 7, Salesian 0. On to the next round in the NCS.
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Branson Comes Up Short in MCAL Finals
Never a dull serve, stroke or score in a Branson-Tamalpais tennis match…especially if it’s a final for the MCAL championship. No question Tamalpais HS was the beneficiary of a dominant freshman recruiting class for this year; and that’s what proved to be the difference in this match. It seemed like the singles slots 3-6 and the top doubles duo for Tam were freshmen!
Nevertheless, the Branson girls put up a fight. #3 singles
Elli Diaz
tried hard but lost 0-6, 2-6.
Olivia Rosenlund
, at #4 singles, succumbed at 0-6, 1-6, while #5
Lillie Lippman
went down 1-6, 0-6, and #6
Caroline Ritter
also bowed at 0-6, 1-6. Even #1
Alise Pedersen,
who had a brilliant season, fell short to a human back-board in a tight one: 5-7, 3-6. And
Emma Hirschkop,
at #2, finished a solid season and a well-contested match at 3-6, 4-6. Singles Ouch.
Then the doubles teams charged up and the #2 duo of
Abby Ivancevich &
Emily Wells
finished a very successful MCAL season by scoring big with a 6-2, 6-2 victory. The #3 doubles
Clia Ellwein & Scarlett Bach
also pummeled their opponents 6-3, 7-6. And finally, the #1 doubles, a reunion of the legendary “Chella” team of
Chelsea Wong & Ella Ratliff
, made a statement by defeating their opposites 6-1, 5-7 and 7-6 (7-3 in a set tie-breaker). Tam 6, Branson 3.
The team will sorely miss the seven seniors who played their last matches for Branson in MCAL play:
Scarlett Bach, Elli Diaz, Clia Ellwein, Emma Hirschkop, Abby Ivancevich, Caroline Ritter, and Emily Wells
. And, no doubt, these seniors will forever cherish their experiences on this team.
Much thanks also to Coaches
Pat Anderson
and
Christina Wang
for their guidance, inspiration, and encouragement. It was a challenging season: bus breakdown, home matches at Redwood HS, practices at Mt. Tam Tennis Club, smoke pollution from the fires…a wild but unforgettable season!
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Post Office Box 887 Ross, California 94957
(415) 454-3612 • www.branson.org
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